Rose and Scorpius OneShot Collection
by Alias-JoyLemmon
Summary: Rose and Scorpius had been set aganst each other before they even step foot on the train. A series of oneshots showing their lives over the years. Starts upon first real meeting. - Formally 'Aguamenti'. Rating may change later.
1. Aguamenti

**Aguamenti**

The first real time Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy was in the second week of their first term of their first year at Hogwarts.

It had been a dreadfully hot summer, and the weather had remained hot even though it was the middle of autumn.

It took a newly-learnt spell and the flaring temper of a 12 year old for them both to meet.

It was Scorpius who said the spell 'aguamenti', and it was Rose who caught to blast of it.

It was Rose, however, who, after yelling at Scorpius – her cousin Albus' new best friend – walked away feeling very dignified despite her new bedraggled appearance.

Scorpius' aguamenti spell was _nothing _compared to her incendi spell, which left both Albus and Scorpius looking scorched for weeks.


	2. Love Is This, This is Love

**This is Love**

~/*\~

**This is why we do it. This is worth the pain. This is why we bow down. And get back up again. This is where the heart lies. This is from above. Love is this, this is love.**

~/*\~

_**15**_

I smile, looking over at her in all her red-headed glory.

This is the summer before we start our fifth year at school, and we are at the beach.

And I can't help but stare at her.

She's _beautiful_.

Her red frizzy hair is captured by a messy braid and she's wearing a blue polka dot bikini; the water is reflecting into her eyes, making the blue's sharper and introducing flecks of green I hadn't noticed before.

"Oi, stop drooling Scorp, it's impolite." Albus chuckles, elbowing me in my ribs, making we wince slightly – seeker had done marvels for his upper body strength, he just wasn't aware of it.

He was also the only person who knew that I had fallen in love with his cousin early last year.

But it's moments like this why I'm reminded that I do love her – she's not only smart and witty (being in Ravenclaw as bound to have a negative impact on her – sarcasm was now one of the services she provided) but she knew absolutely everything about Quidditch – she's currently arguing over whether the New Zealand and Australian Teams should join the European Quidditch League, as they are technically part of the muggle Commonwealth. She also drop dead gorgeous.

And she doesn't realise it.

She doesn't realise the affect she has on me, she doesn't catch me staring – which is odd, since she's one the most observant people I know.

But I love her.

And watching her, laughing by the water is worth any pain Albus can inflict on me. This is why I love her – she's constantly being her beautiful, charming, sarcastic, (clumsy) self.

~/*\~

_**16**_

"Stupid bloody QUIDDITCH!" I hollered, racing up to the Hospital Wing, Rose hoot on my heels. "Albus knows the risks, why he went for that during a _practise_ is beyond me!"

Rose sighed. "Calm you tits Scorp,"

I look up at her, frowning at her expression. Not that Rose ever restricted her language for anyone, but I'd never heard her pull that one before.

"You're the one with the tit's here love," I tell her.

She giggles. "It's a muggle expression. It means calm down. Don't get your knockers in a twist."

I nod, pretending I know what the hell she's talking about.

"Scorp, just, relax with this one. Albus has been having a few issues at home – he told Uncle Harry that he doesn't want to be an auror – he wants to play Quidditch professionally. I think eh's trying to prove that he can do it."

"But you saw him! He _leapt off his ruddy broom!_."

"I know."

"In the middle of the pitch!"

"I know!"

"75 feet in the air!"

"I KNOW SCORPIUS! I WAS THERE!" She screamed. That stopped me. Rose had _never_, in the six years I'd known her, raised her voice at me. "GOD YOU'RE PRETENTIOUS! THAT MAY BE YOU'RE BEST FRIEND IN THERE BUT HE'S MY _COUSIN_! I'VE GROWN UP WITH HIM!"

I nod, silently leaning up against the wall.

Although I know she won't admit it, she was just as worried about him as I was. She was under pressure herself – her mother was ever lovingly pushing her further and further into more strenuous study so she definitely got into Healing in two years time.

"You know Rose, I never knew why you wanted to be a Healer – I though the Department of Mysteries was the place for you."

She sighed. "So did I."

I slid down the wall. "Rose, they're your _parent's_, not your keepers. They can't tell you what you have to do with your life."

"They already have Scorp. Now, I have to go see my cousin." I nodded, keeping my head down.

She was hurting, so I would bow down, and let her hurt. She didn't need me right now.

But I would stand back up and help her through this.

I loved her. I knew when to sit and when to stand.

And right now, she needed me to sit, no matter how much I wanted to stand.

~/*\~

_**17**_

Every year, on May 2nd, the 7th year students have the opportunity to attend the Hogwarts Victory Ball, in memory of the 50 brave souls who died that night in 1998 defending the school they loved. The night that Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort.

As Head Boy and Girl, Rose and I were automatically going.

However, I resolved to actually _ask_ her.

I loved her – I could do this.

"Rose?" I said, walking down from my private room into our shared private common room (I loved being Head boy) knowing that she would be there.

"Yeah Scorp?" She asked, looking up from the book she was reading.

I swallowed before diving straight in.

In my head, I head the mantra repeating over and over: _I love you I love I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you._

"Scorp?"

"Oh, right um, it's about the Ball."

"Yes?"

"Wouldyouliketogowithme?" I blurted out.

"What?"

_I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you_

"Would you like to go with me."

"I already am..."

"No, I meant as a... date."

She looked shocked, and I must have blushed from the top of my head downwards.

Then she laughed.

She _laughed._

"Oh Scorp, you're too cute! Of course I would love to!"

"REALLY?" I pretty much yelled.

She sighed, got up and walked over to me.

"Scorp, how long will it take you to realise? This," she placed a hand over my now rapidly beating heart, "This is where _my_ heart lies. I love you Scorp."

And I kissed her.

It wasn't slow and sweet as first kisses are supposed to go. It was fast and passion-fuelled, bursting with our love.

"I love you," I whispered to her, before attacking her again.

This is why I Love her. She's sent straight from above.

~/*\~

_**21**_

"I, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, take you, Rose Juliet Weasley, to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better and for poorer, from this day forth, for as long as we both shall live."

"You may now kiss the bride."

And kiss her I did.

~/*\~

In years to come, we often looked back on our wedding kiss.

Rose's mum had made us a scrapbook of sorts of the wedding. The kiss was in the middle.

Beneath it was written: _Love is this, this is love_

And truer words had never been spoken.


	3. Tradition

**Tradition**

I, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, know of five different traditions that Rose Juliet Weasley partakes in every year – without fail – at Hogwarts.

She never sleeps the day before classes starts. She's awake to watch the last sunrise of freedom, to fill her last day checking homework and fixing essays. She's dead tired and almost passed out by lunchtime, but she soldiers on, and her first day she looks the least stressed she will all term.

During Christmas, she constantly wears a mistletoe-repellent beanie. She doesn't like surprise kisses, forced kisses, or kissing other girls (although it's hot), and she never opens a present until at least 11:45 pm on Christmas day, because she doesn't like the excitement to end.

Her Birthday is the same day as valentines and so every year she writes herself two cards – one on pink paper, one on blue. The pink paper card is a valentine – she asks _herself_ to be her valentine. The blue one is an invitation to her invitation-own birthday party – which most of the school ends up going, except for her. She refuses to go to her _own birthday party_ on the grounds that it was too late to RSVP. She collects these cards and tries to out-do herself every year.

She doesn't go home for Easter break, but instead enchants eggs to perform invisibility charms when splattered, and spends the entire Easter Break at Hogwarts, flinging eggs at unsuspecting first years and ghosts (Peeves traditionally gets one on his head, after being handed two –she likes his mischief). She had stolen Albus' Marauder's Map and James' Invisibility cloak by Christmas first year, so no one knows it's her, and she can inflict mayhem on the largest group of kids.

She cleans her wand every year before going home for the summer. She says it's her way of preparing for a Weasley/Potter summer, but everyone knows it's to hide all the secret pranks she left set up for the first years (and 5th year prefects) who enter the common room first the following year. She was the only third year to master the spell that got rid of Priori Incantartem.

This didn't stop me, however, from trying to start a new tradition with her during sixth year – one where she says she loves me whenever she see's me.

I'm still working on it.


	4. Quidditch

**Quidditch**

~/*\~

**Any sensible woman will tell you that there's nothing better than a many in uniform**

~/*\~

If You asked Scorpius what made Rose love him as she did, he'd tell you something along the lines of:

"We were friends as children, rivals and enemies, but it soon grew to attraction then to love – it took me a while, but I finally convinced her that she loved me back. And she does, and I do, and we are forever in love."

If you asked Rose, however, you'd get a much shorter, simpler answer:

"It was 6th year, he kept asking me out – I didn't tell him yes until I saw that he had _finally_ filled out his Quidditch uniform. So long as he can fill that properly, I'll probably keep on loving him."

That's an easy thing for Rose to say – Scorpius is to play Chaser for Puddlemere United, and probably will for the next 15 odd years.


	5. Albus' Revelations of Love

**Albus Revelations**

In my life, I have heard a great many stories. Stories for children, stories for frightening, stories for learning, stories to boast, stories to teach, stories to fear and stories to love.

In these stories (usually that of my relatives) love was approached in a few different ways. The first was the classical 'love at first sight'. This didn't apply to my parents (my mum yes, dad not much) but did apply to Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur, both of whom swore on their lives and that of their children that from the first moment they saw each other, they loved each other. As sure as Spring comes after Winter.

The second approach to love was the 'we were best friends first'. This is what happened to Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, who had been best friends for years before they both confessed to loving each other during what would have been their seventh year at Hogwarts – the day of the Battle of Hogwarts. How's that for a reminder?

The third was the way in which my parents fell in love – they had harboured crushes (for years in mum's case) and they mutually decided to get together – sealed with a kiss. It was different to Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, who had actually been in love for years as friends. My parents love was that of aquaintences, people who knew each other somewhat intimately, but they weren't close friends. It was the usual way people fall in love all over the world.

And until I was 17, I was content to know that there were only these 3 ways to fall in love. That I would fall into one of these categories and end up in love for life.

But that was until my two best friends Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley fell in love.

It was during a study session for the upcoming Mid Terms. Rose was trying to memorize her Runes but nothing was working. Scorpius leant over, took the book from her hands and recited his way of remembering – a simple poem.

'Wunjo is for joy, which follows the gift of Gebo  
>kenaz is the torch which alight the wagon ofRaidho<br>Thurisaz is a giant, Ansuz is a god,  
>Fehu is for cattle and Uruz for ox'<p>

"It's simple enough, and not much for rhyme, rhythm or metre, but it gets the job done." He said simply.

It was then that I noticed that he hadn't released her hands after he had taken away her book, and for once, Rose wasn't bothered by the contact. She was too busy gazing into his eyes.

It was almost as if up until that point, he'd just been occupying space around her, like a piece of furniture. But this time when she looked at him, she took all of him in. His platinum hair, the sharp line of his jaw, the broadness of his shoulders under his shirt. This time when she looked, she actually _saw_ him.

Let me say this. It was worth the whole awful, irritating time spent reading in the dusty deserted library just to watch that moment happen. It was worth freedom and fear of death from the Quidditch captain to see her fall in love with him. Just a little. Just the first faint breath of love, so light she probably didn't notice it herself. It wasn't dramatic, like some bolt of lightning with a crack of thunder following. It was more like when flint strikes steel and the spark fades almost too fast for you to see. But still, you know it's there, down where you can't see it, kindling.

It was then that I realised that _this_ was what love looked like. Two unblinking teenagers who had unknowingly crossed the threshold into adulthood, by a simple poem, a simple glance and a simple touch.


	6. Dela  Citrus warning

_**Dela  
><strong>__Caution there is an M scene in here. Miss the second 'stanza' if you're not into that_

~/*\~

**One day I looked up and there you were  
>Like a simple question looking for an answer<strong>

~/*\~

Most people have three idea's about how Rose and I became friends.

The first one is meeting in the carriage on our first train ride to Hogwarts. Well, that's not true. She sat with her Weasley/Potter clan, and I sat with some other scared first years, who were too overwhelmed by the thought they were going to Hogwarts to be intimidated by the name 'Malfoy'.

The second one is being in the same house. Not true again. Rose was a Ravenclaw. I was a Slytherin. In all fairness, I would have been in Ravenclaw with her, but I somewhat begged to be put where no Weasley or Potter would be put. So, it stuck me in Slytherin.

The third theory is having Albus Potter as the mutual best friend. Again not true. Albus was a Hufflepuff, which surprised everyone more than anything. He wasn't quiet, he was very brave, and he was famous. But it seemed he was more loyal and hard working than brave and courageous. He wasn't sly or cunning either, and neither of his parents were brilliant at school apart from DADA.

There are two other minor theories as well – one being that we were intense school rivals which eventually bonded us. This is partly true - we did often battle for tops marks. Not because of some grudge inherited from generations past, or because we were proud – it's just that we were gifted when it came to school work. Rose being a Ravenclaw though, she naturally came out on top. The second minor theory is that we being Head's together, gave into the intense sexual frustration that had been building since I became the school slut and she kept catching me. We _were_ Head's together, and I was classed as the school slut (I never put out for a girl who wasn't willing and sober – no drunken one night stands) but we had been friends before 7th year, and she often didn't care that I was whoring around. In fact, at one stage, she was even tossed be a piece muggle protection. "Don't want your wand to get Hogwarts from being in her chamber of secrets, do we?" She said with a wink before disappearing. I didn't seek her out as a conquest, and she didn't come looking. We worked in different circles.

I became friends with Rose Weasley clear spring day. She was floating around aimlessly on her broom on the Quidditch Pitch. I was behind the stands, trying to figure out Herbology homework. She flew down and stared at me.

I looked up giving her a questioning look to match her quizzical look.

"Hey Merc, is it romantic if a guy tells a girl 'I went to pick you a flower but it was a Venus fly trap and it bit my head, so I killed it and got you this piece of grass instead*'?"

"Merc?" Was what I quite stupidly replied.

"You're eyes are like mercury, with a hint of silver around the iris. Not the most important part of the question."

"I like the nickname. But the romantic part? I'm not so sure."

She shrugged before tossing a piece of grass at me. "Have a flower for your soul," she said with a wink.

I stared at her as she walked to her Nimbus and shot off lazily once more.

She was a question. A simple question. Looking for an answer.

That was how we became friends. We would pose strange questions to each other, just to see what the other would say. But we were true friends, protecting each other, saving each other, and just being there for each other, usually by simply hugging each other.

You see, hugging was our thing. We often had an arm slung over the other's shoulder (or her case, waist), and we often asked form hugs. Usually along the lines 'if I promise not to'. It was our thing. Her family went mental the first few times, but after a few well-placed bat-bogey hexes, some threats to grandparents, and quite a few point deductions and detentions, they got used to it. So, arm to shoulder, arm to waist, we traipsed the school, asking for hugs and posing ridiculous questions, before she went to study and I went for a shag.

This all worked quite splendidly, but eventually, she studied my body, and I shagged only her.

It wasn't because of our friendship, it wasn't because of Albus. It wasn't because of pent-up sexual frustration (cause let's face it, at Hogwarts there's plenty of it) and it wasn't because of rivalry. We didn't get drunk, we didn't do it to piss off our parents (though it worked spectacularly) nor did we sit down and think about it rationally. It wasn't because of a dare, it wasn't a sudden declaration of love. It was mutual. It was as if we decided at the same time that we didn't _need_ the others. We didn't _need_ to overanalyse our relationship, we didn't _need_ to sleep around every other night.

We already had a relationship. We were already friends – good friends. We remained good friends, but plus some.

~/*\~

**If I could give a shape to this ache I feel for you  
>If I could find the voice that says the words that capture you<strong>

~/*\~

There was this time when in seventh year when, with me in the common room and she in her room, she screamed. A shrill scream of absolute terror – the kind that not even Voldemort had heard as he killed. I raced up to her room, to find a naked Rose, wrapped haphazardly in the curtains on her bed (showing more than she was covering), her slightly tanned skin whiter than mine.

"Rose? What is it?"

"S-s-s-s-s" She stuttered.

"S?"

"S-s-s-s-p-sp-spid-d-der!" She screamed again, pointing to her towel and pile of clothes.

"A spider? You're screaming bloody murder over a spider?"

She nodded, too frightened for some sarcastic remark.

I sighed. She must have been really scared for no reply.

I lifted up her clothes, to find the biggest goddamn spider I have ever seen in my life.

It was at least the size of a serving plate.

"SHIT!" I yelled and dived to where Rose was, still standing in front of her (protecting her).

I sighed, watching as the monster crept slowly towards us.

"KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!" She screamed in my ear, so I did. I _Avada kedavra_'d a spider. And it died.

She sagged onto my shoulders. "Thank you," she mumbled.

I nodded. "If I promise not to kill you too, can I have a hug?" I whispered bravely. After facing a giant spider (probably a baby acromantus) I needed human contact. The killing curse took a lot out of a person.

She nodded and I turned around and gently wrapped my arms around her. Well, I did it gently – she had me in a death grip. She was still deathly pale.

"Rose, I think you should get dressed, I'll take you down to the kitchens – I think you need some food."

She nodded. When we walked down to the kitchens later that night, we met up with some of her cousins – namely her younger brother, who had taken a very strong dislike to me early on.

"So Malfoy," he spat my name out like venom. "Been killing anything lately? A mugglebron perhaps? No, wait, you have to shag it before you kill it, don't you?"

I didn't retaliate – I was too busy drowning in misery. My family's dark past and equally dark reputation was the one thing I had ever been ashamed of. I didn't care that people called me a whore.

"Hugo Colin Weasley!" Rose shouted. "HOW DARE YOU! He doesn't go around taunting you because of you ginger hair and freckles, he doesn't tease you because our family was once poor! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" She hollered.

He smirked – he did it better than I did. "What are you gonna do sis?"

"15 points from Gryffindor for teasing, another 10 for an unprovoked attack on a student, another 10 for an unprovoked attack on the Head Boy. _And_ I'm writing to Grandma Molly and Mum and Dad."

Hugo paled visibly. "Please sis, not Nanna!"

"Nope. She _likes_ Scorpius. She thinks he's _charming_ and a _good-hearted_ boy. Unlike you, you snivelling little creeper. Go play with you cronies somewhere else. If I hear another blood-status related attack on _any other student_ not only will deduct points, write to Nanna, AND give you detention, I'll also tell Al the Gryffindor plays for the upcoming match. Wouldn't want that now, would we?"

He was on the verge of crying. Since Albus Potter became Quidditch Captain three years prior, Hufflepuff had taken out the Quidditch Cup every year since, beating Gryffindor marginally. Rose, who subbed for Al often, as the Hufflepuff keeper had a 'pre-consisting medical' (Rose told me he actually had Lycanthropy. So for about 5 days every month he was off) and it wasn't a huge secret that she supplied Al with Slytherin and Gryffindor plays (how she got the Slytherin plays, I'll never know. She had many a loose-lipped cousin in Gryffindor) that he often used to his advantage.

She never gave him Ravenclaw plays, so Ravenclaw always came in second or third. They weren't too upset by this. They knew that Al would be going professional the second he graduated. Rose probably would as well – she was very gifted as Keeper, but a very well-rounded player. She did not like seeker, saying it was too much concentration.

Rose stood protectively in front of me, how I don't know, as I was well over a foot taller than her (she was about 5"4, and I was nearer 6"6). Hugo, dejectedly, walked away.

"If I promise not to deduct points of you, can I have a hug?" She asked, grinning impishly up at me.

"Only if you promise not to write to write to my grandparents." I replied seriously, before laughing and enveloping her in a hug. The ones that she liked the most – the ones where I wrap my arms all the way around her, squeeze her slightly and protectively, as if she in=s the most fragile object in the world, and i am the impenetrable wall.

The ones where she is safe form the world, safe with me, safe with the feelings I don't have the voice to say, and safe from the shapeless ache I have for her.

She is safe from the world and from me when she is in my arms. No heartbreak. Just love.

~/*\~

**I've been waiting for you all my life**

**Hoping for a miracle**

**Waiting for redemption**

**I burn for you**

~/*\~

If you had asked me when I was twelve, I would have scoffed and told you to bugger off.

If you had asked me when I was thirteen, I would have blushed and told you to shut up

If you had asked me when I was fourteen, I would have asked you where you had been.

Fourteen was my magic number.

It was the number in which I fell in love with Rose Weasley.

It was the year I started to declare my love for her publicly.

Naturally, it therefore took till seventh year before she agreed to a date.

Sure, we were Heads together, sure she was still a midget, but she intimidated me like no other.

To her, I was goofy guy who had a very public – and probably fake – crush on her since we were kids.

That didn't stop me from asking her.

It didn't stop her from saying yes.

I remember, the night after date – a short visit to Hogsmeade, followed by hand holding and talk of the future before she went to bed after I kissed her cheek – that I still had the piece of paper in my hand. I forgot to give it to her.

_I've been waiting for you my whole life,_ was all it said. Quite simple. Quite true.

I sighed, trying to convince myself that I didn't need her to know. I was half-way undressed when I gave up fighting with myself. She had to know.

So I snuck into her room, to find her sitting there in a teal baby doll. The perfect colour that mixed the Slytherin Green with the Ravenclaw Blue and the majestic blue of her eyes. She was brushing out her long red hair with a book sitting next to her. She looked perfect.

"Rose," I whispered. She looked around and I saw the hunger in her blue eyes as her gaze raked over my body.

She licked her lips and I wasted no time in going over to her.

She smiled, and invited me closer.

I slowly, hesitantly, kissed her.

Gods above she was perfect. Her scent – which I smelt in the amorentia the year before – filled my senses and I gently slid my tongue against her lips. She opened willingly with a slight moan.

A miracle. That is what she was. A miracle. It was a miracle she even let me in the same room as her, let alone do this to her.

Cloth went flying, as our kiss turned into kisses, which in turn turned into nips and sucks.

Quickly muttering spells of protection, trailing hands met smooth skin, with tense a hardened muscles underneath. From the soft fleshy swell of her breasts, to her trailing fingertips that made invisible lines across my stomach.

Slowly I pushed into her, revelling in her moans of pleasure. Slowness only lasted so long, as the need grew and she tilted her hips just so. Every thrust grew in intensity and I knew that, should we pursue this into a full relationship, with me doing this to her every night, it would be my road to redemption.

This is what I had been waiting for. I'd been waiting for her.

I felt myself getting closer, and her own walls began to clamp around me.

"_I burn for you_" I told her, gazing into her azure-blue eyes.

I thrust into her for the last time and she screaming my name as she came.

That night, as we both slept, I felt that small piece of paper fall out of my hand, and when I awoke in the morning, to find Rose gazing sleepily at me, smiling softly, she handed me the piece of paper back.

Underneath where I had written _I've been waiting for you all my life_ she had written, in her sharp, loopy script _Me too._

~/*\~

**I think I know why the Dog why the howls at the moon**

~/*\~

Rose and I had been in the same Care for Magical Creatures class since first year.

Hagrid had been our mutual friend, and our friendship had somewhat blossomed from there. In fact, it was all thanks to that class that I got Rose Weasley.

She always berates me when I use her name like she's some sort of prize, but sometimes she is – she is priceless, fragile yet unbreakable, prefect with perfect imperfections that made her, _her._

But it was thanks to that class that I got to propose to her.

It was one of our last classes before NEWTS exams started, and Hagrid had let us do revision.

We were sitting outside, enjoying the last rays of sunshine before days condemned inside.

"I've got it!" I said triumphantly out of the blue.

Well, out of the blue for Rose to notice – I had been waiting for that 'out of the blue' call for three weeks now.

"You get what."

"I think I know why the dog howls at the moon."

"They howl at the moon as a signal to others in their packs, to find their mates, and sing. They mate for life and are among the only animal in the animal kingdom to sing for the joy of it."

I winked. "But now I know why."

"Now? We learnt _ages_ ago." She implored, rolling her eyes.

I took her hand and stroked it. "Maybe I'm a slow learner."

She sighed. "What do you want?"

I quickly slipped the ring out of the velvet box and slipped it onto her finger.

"I want you to be the reason I howl at the moon," I whispered.

This next part was the part I couldn't account for. Her response. She could shoot me down and I would be crushed.

She blushed and kissed my cheek.

I grinned like a mad man, capturing her mouth and snogging her senseless.

I was going to marry Rose.

"Let's wait a year, at least." She said, once I had given her time to breath.

I didn't care how long I had to wait. I had physical evidence that Rose and I would be together forever.

I let out a whoop of joy, getting strange looks from everyone there.

Rose was still blushing – she wasn't one for public displays of affection. I winked at her, before throwing my head back and howling.

Fang joined in and once Hagrid glinted at the shiny piece of metal on Rose's finger he too joined in. The rest of the class looked like we'd finally gone off our rockers. But I didn't care.

"We're getting married! I'm marrying you! I get to marry you!" I sang joyously.

Once people registered what I was saying, they too started howling.

Rose was torn between laughing and crying. Eventually, she gave into the howls.

And for the next week, we would howl at our fellow Care for Magical Creatures classmates.

They knew.

Everyone else thought it was a practical joke – until we Broke the news at breakfast one morning.

For the final week of our final year at Hogwarts, howls followed us everywhere.

~/*\~

*This is from Azuziphre comics. Not mine  
><strong>Bold <strong>are lyrics from 'Dela (I know why the Dog Howls at the Moon) by Clegg, Johnny and Savuka (the song off George and the Jungle)


	7. Ready to Love Again

~/*\~

**Seems like I was walking in the wrong direction  
>I barely recognized my own reflection<br>Scared of love but scared of life alone**

~/*\~

"You can't stay alone forever Rosie" Albus told me as I once again spent a Saturday night doing homework isn't of partying.

"That's not what will happen!" I snapped, but it was secretly my biggest fear.

A life alone.

No one there to really care that about birthdays, about promotions at work. No one to have an anniversary with, no one to have children with. No one to plan a house over, to fight over the garden. If it could be transformed into a boggart, she was sure loneliness would be herd.

"Just because that _jerk_ broke your heart, doesn't mean that you should be eternally damned!"

I shrugged.

I knew that he was worried. I knew why. This wasn't me. This shy, studious creature with the dull red hair wasn't me. I used to be colour.

My life was colourful. My hair was once brighter than Lily's, my eye's bluer than the Scamander Twin's. My party life was bright yellows and greens as Hufflepuff's and Slytherin's threw the best party's. The orange tinge of his eyes would be enough to get me grinning. I was the life of the party.

Then he had to ruin it.

No explanation. Just 'We're through'.

I don't look in the mirror anymore, because I don't recognise myself anymore.

And it feels like I've gone in the wrong direction with this. I should have been out there, showing him what he's missing, but instead, I'm couped up in the library in my self-imposed exile.

I don't even know who I am anymore.

~/*\~

**Seems I've been playing on the safe side baby  
>Building walls around my heart to save me<br>But it's time for me to let it go**

~/*\~

It's been months since he broke it off. And I've been cautious. Never anywhere he might wander. No parties.

I look both ways before crossing now.

I've been playing it safe.

"I'm sorry Scorp," I whispered to him, as we sat in the astronomy tower, waiting for our prefect duties to finish. I had my knees drawn up to my chest, and I rested my head on them, looking out at the endless sea of stars.

"I know," he whispered back, his tone causing me to look at him. He sighed. "When you get past this, you'll be back. When you realise that you don't need these wall around your heart to save yourself, you'll be back."

That was the moment I realised it was time to let go.

~/*\~

**And I'm ready to feel now  
>No longer am I afraid of the fall down<br>It must be time to move on now  
>Without the fear of how it might end<br>I guess I'm ready to love again**

~/*\~

It was the moment I realised I was ready to feel again – let the colour shine back in.

It wasn't sudden, but slowly I became more surer of myself. I was no longer afraid of falling down. I had been silly to think that if I fell no one would catch me just because _he_ wasn't there.

I slowly realised that it was time to move on, and this slowly allowed me to come back to Rose.

~/*\~

**Just when we think that love will never find you  
>You run away but it's right behind you<br>It's just something that you can't control**

~/*\~

"I'm doomed though!" I sobbed. I was sitting alone in the astronomy tower, having a debate with myself. "Love will never find me!"

I heard a chuckle and whipped around, eyes blazing. It was Scorpius.

"You don't get it, do you? I'll always be here, as I have, standing right behind you. You're not doomed."

He kissed my head, and I fled, knowing that I had hurt his feelings, but I saw something that scared me more that Scorpius' hurt. It was the gleam of knowing.

It wasn't something I could control, and that scared me.

But maybe, it was reassuring that maybe, just maybe, I had love behind me.

~/*\~

**And I'm ready to feel now  
>No longer am I afraid of the fall down<br>It must be time to move on now  
>Without the fear of how it might end<br>I guess I'm ready to love again**

~/*\~

It was time to move on now – time to move back into the light.

No fear of what _he_ would say. No fear of how it might end if we met. If things got nasty.

I was ready.

I was ready to love again.

~/*\~

**So come and find me  
>I'll be waiting up for you<br>I'll be holding out for you tonight**

~/*\~

I sent him a short note.

_Come find me  
>~R<em>

I was waiting up for him. Never had I asked him to meet me. He usually just showed up. But I knew now that, because I was ready, I had to make the first move.

I sat on the very ledge of the astronomy tower, humming to myself.

I heard his chuckle again and I twisted my head so that he could see my smile.

I got up and held out my arms.

And I prayed that he knew.

~/*\~

**And I'm ready to feel now  
>No longer am I afraid of the fall down<br>It must be time to move on now  
>Without the fear of how it might end<br>I guess I'm ready to love again**

~/*\~

He pulled me flush against his body, the warmth of his making mine crawl delisiouly.

"I'm ready," I whispered, knowing that he could hear my words, just as he could hear my heart beat erattically at his touch.

"For what?" he whispered back.

"I'm ready to love again," I told him and, after a small glance into my eyes, he kissed me with the one kiss _he_ couldn't.

Scorpius kissed me with the same fire and passion and desire and patience and wanting and deliberance that had filled stories of lovers for generations.

It was the kiss of two lovers who had all the time in the world.

~/*\~


	8. Skipping Class

**Skipping Class**

Despite the fact that both Rose and Scorpius were prefects, and shoo-ins for the Head positions, they often skipped class there last month as 6th years.

They could never be found, and certainly not together – at least, not when anyone was looking. But the two of them, who swore up and down that they weren't dating, would end up with each other, under the tree's, whispering about things.

They were best friends. That was all. They had denied any feelings or relationship for so long that people gave up asking. The Hogwarts community had simply accepted the fact that they wouldn't get together.

But every so often, when they were hiding together and whispering, and she happened to be laying down, Scorpius would run his fingers through her hair. Sometimes, if they happened to be walking in the same direction under those trees, she would accidentally on purpose brush her fingers against his. Accidentally, their heads would meet, mere centimetres apart, so close that each inhale was the others exhale.

Occasionally, they would meet each other's glances – the ones that meant 'Meet me later'.

But never did they get caught.

And they never spoke of what they did to anyone, when they were cutting class to sit under the trees.

And they definitely didn't talk about that kiss, that searing passion-filled kiss, that left them both gasping for breath with fingers having undone buttons without knowing they did so, and left a wistful look in both their eyes.

They definitely didn't talk about it. Especially with each other.


End file.
